Chapter 81: Special meeting
Shingi stood up and stretches as his body was still for some time.
He opened his Status to check if anything changed.
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STATUS
Name: Shingi Maki
Class: None
Profession: Scholar Master
Race: Blessed Human
HP: 88/88
SP: 47/47
MP: 46/46
STR: 12
AGI: 14
END: 16
INT: 16
CHA: 5
Mana Pool: Earth and Light Element
Skills: VISUALIZATION (Master Rank), MANA MANIPULATION (Master Rank), MANA SENSE (Master Rank), PERCEPTION (Master Rank), STEALTH (Base Rank), IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON (Master Rank), SMITHING (Master Rank), MARTIAL ART (Base Rank), GLASSBLOWING (Master Rank), WOODCARVING (Base Rank), LEATHERWORKING(Base Rank)
Passive Skills: MINOR MANA REGENERATION
Spells: MANA HAND (Low Grade), FILTH EATER (Ungraded), MINOR ILLUSION (Ungraded), LIGHT (Ungraded), ROCK THROW (Low Grade), CAMOUFLAGE (Low Grade), INVISIBILITY(Base Grade), DOME OF SILENCE (Base Grade), MANA DOUBLE - LIGHT ELEMENT (Base Grade), MANA DOUBLE - EARTH ELEMENT (Base Grade), MAJOR ILLUSION (Base Grade), HASTE (Base Grade), STONESKIN (Base Grade), METAL HANDS (Unfinished Low Grade)
Blessings: Blessing of Beliss, Blessing of Dlog, Angel's Boon, Blessing of Choma
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He could feel the tattoos finishing getting imprinted on him, but their passive effects seemed to be more significant at his weak NPC body than at his Player's body.
The new Blessing seemed to have increased his HP, MP, and SP modifiers as a result.
He meditated a little to go into his Inner Space to check his skills, and he noticed some improvements, mostly at his MARTIAL ARTS skill.
He could also feel his Earth Mana be somewhat 'lighter,' making it easier to control and faster to cast Earth mana-based Spells.
His PERCEPTION seemed to have updated slightly, but mostly his hearing and MANA SENSE had some slight improvements.
He could detect underground movement if he focused on it, which he couldn't before. It was like the ground was a field he couldn't pass.
Combining his MANA SENSE and PERCEPTION, which was almost second nature to him, he was able to detect nearly everything around him within a range of five meters, even if they were covered by a wall or being underground.
Of course, the further something was from him, the least detailed, and after three meters, he couldn't be confident for small things or what they were, but big things like Karemon in the office outside he was able to detect him quite well.
He could do something like that in the past with his skills, as when he detected Shadow Whip and Fire Whip outside the store, but back then, he could detect just their presence. But now, he would be able to see precisely where they were and doing if within range.
He tested a few things to get used a bit on everything and headed outside to meet Aneta and Karemon after making sure some Players who seemed to have come here to finish some Quests have left.
"Here you are. I was afraid you were starving yourself over there."[Aneta]
Shingi was somewhat hungry as he didn't spend the time feeding this body of his.
Fortunately, Karemon seemed to have some deer meat and potatoes ready for him to eat.
After seeing him being in there and not getting out, Karemon decided to have some food ready when Shingi would wake up again.
"So what happened with that Blessed One you mentioned? Is he going to get here?"[Aneta]
"She sent some more people to help."[Shingi]
Shingi had told them that the person they had met couldn't get here but told him about some people who would help them and have helped the two Blessed One's girls he was hanging with these past days.
He was still keeping the story that the one behind everything was the one who helped to cure him even though he wasn't able to find her identity.
He tried to ask for any info Karemon had for her, but she seemed to have just passed by and came across Garry and helped him and left.
"Well, those past few days, those annoying brats seem to try to take over the town. Hopefully, with the help of Lady Anna, we were able to get some of their plan to slow down. She seems like one I don't want to be against."[Aneta]
"Me neither."[Shingi]
He may have beaten her in battle, but it wasn't on her terms. If Anna was serious, she wouldn't charge at him but took her time and surprised him, which was her expertise.
But Anna wanted to act fast to stop the person who unleashed this danger and didn't have a clear mind then.
But now that she was free and had some clear air, she was one to fear by many.
After having a few bites, Shingi said his goodbyes, cast his INVISIBILITY and headed to the shop.
It was still as quiet as he left it, and there seemed like there were more watchers with Mana Pools around it, making it harder for him to get in there, but not impossible.
Inside there was the trio he expected; Anna, Volig, and Greg.
"You are here so soon? Did something happened?"[Anna]
She wasn't expecting him to come to report for his arrival, and the rest he mentioned for a couple more days.
"Master found an old friend of his and arrived in town not too long ago. Phoenix and the rest met them already. What about here? Aneta told me you had done a few things to sabotage them, but I see their numbers to be quite high still."[Shingi]
Anna nodded at this, and she seemed to be frustrated a bit.
"It seemed I underestimated them and their ability to respawn, making them harder to be scared. But I was planning to meet the creator of those special gems of yours. His skills may be useful for my plan."[Anna]
"May I join you then? Zhen hadn't met you in the past, but something tells that he will like you."[Shingi]
After Shingi discussed a few things he wanted Volig to prepare, Anna moved towards the Dungeon.
After leaving the town, their progress was faster as they didn't have to take detours to avoid the ones with possible Mana Detect skills, or at least Shingi didn't have to anymore as Anna didn't have to worry about something like that.
They got to the Dungeon within two hours and at the secret door within a few minutes after that.
With her Shadow Teleport ability, Anna moved into the secret room to open the way for them; that's why they didn't call Little Phoenix to join them.
They found Zhen working on what used to be the destroyed lab, but in the time that past he seemed to have clear it up. Zhen removed the broken crystal sphere while inside the other spheres were some female villagers similar to the one the Ooze has transformed to, but one was blonde and the other was brunette.
The one he had already dealt with had black hair.
"Zhen, I brought someone to meet. Here is..."[Shingi]
But before he finished his sentence, Zhen already had teleported in front of Anna, grabbed her hand, and kissed the top part of it.
"My lady, I am considering more than blessed to have the chance to lay my eyes upon one like you that would put even the Goddes of Love to melt from jealousy."[Zhen]
Anna seemed to have been caught off guard and had frozen in place.
For most of her life, she lived with her mother or on her own, so she wasn't good with people, especially when complimenting her.
"My name is Zhen, your highness, and I consider my honor to have you at my place. Maybe you would like to relax from your travel? May I suggest a bath or my special massage?"[Zhen]
At that point, Anna snapped out and punched him in the face, but he seemed faster than she thought as he turned his body into his purple mist and teleported back to the place he was when they got here.
Anna stopped herself from continuing this fight.
"We are here because we need your help. Anna will explain but try to act seriously."[Shingi]
Anna explained the situation, and Zhen seemed to have followed what Shingi told him and listened with a serious face.
"...and that's where you come for. We need your special Gems but for different types of Elements; special types of Elements."[Anna]
Zhen thought about it a bit before he responded.
"Well, it is possible, but I will have to work with one or more people with the said element to make the Gems have them produced fast. Of course, female ones are most suited for this kind, especially ones with curves. As my research proves it, their mana seemed to be purer to be used on creating my Gems."[Zhen]
Anna nodded on this for Zhen to smile as everything seemed to go according to his plan.
But things changed when Anna hit him in the head since he dropped his guard.
"Just be serious. We have a person with Ice Element, and I believe you have met the one with the Dark Element. Also, there seems to be one with Nature element that I can see if we can persuade her."[Anna]
"She is called Pan. She is with us already and probably will help us if it isn't something too exhausted."[Shingi]
"Well, if she gets tired, I..."[Zhen]
"She can turn into a large panda and probably eat you if you try anything on her."[Shingi]
Zhen didn't finish his sentence.
"I can help with some Light Mana produced if that is the case. But how long do you think this would take?"[Shingi]
Zhen seemed to go back to thinking and made some calculations in his head.
"Well, some of the mentioned ones I have worked with, as you are aware of, in the past, so can improve current design which wouldn't take more than a few hours or less. The Ice Element shouldn't be too hard, so maybe a day or two. As for the rest, probably not less than a week for each. That is for the designs, but the production of each should last a day for a dozen at best."[Zhen]
Shingi turned towards Anna, who seemed to be troubled by this.
"What do you think?"[Shingi]
"That is too long. I can't delay them for so long. If we could lower their numbers, maybe, but they keep reappearing because of their blessed respawn ability, so this can't happen."[Anna]
Shingi had a smirk on his face as a particular thought came to his mind.
"I may have something to help us with that problem."
Anna looked towards him, confused.
Then her eyes got wide as she thought of something.
"You don't think of using that thing from the mine, are you? This is going to harm us more than will help us."[Anna]
Shingi chuckled at that a bit, leaving Anna confused.
"Of course, I don't plan to use this. What do you think of me to be a crazy person?"[Shingi]
Anna sighed from relief at that response.
"Then what is your plan to deal with their respawn ability?"[Anna]
Shingi's smirk became a little wider at this point.
"One of our new allies has a weapon that can deal with it and give us some time."[Shingi]
Then he explained the situation with Sinhunter and how it seemed to have a similar effect but weaker effect of INFECTED SILVER's death effect.
They discussed a few details on what to do and what Zhen needed for making his Gems.
Then they returned into the town, and Ameanum worked with Volig on a few things for the rest of the day, as he had a specific task now for the night.
He was going to hunt some Players.